“I will make your mothers mourn your deaths,” an officer shouted, according to testimony from a prisoner to Amnesty International
Oct. 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Amnesty International on Tuesday demanded that the Iranian authorities give “unhindered” access to independent international observers to investigate the “terrible” use of force against prisoners in Evin prison, in the Iranian capital, Tehran, during a fire that It started on October 15.
“This latest deadly incident once again highlights the urgent need to address the litany of crimes committed by the Iranian authorities through an independent investigation, reporting and accountability mechanism,” the NGO said in a statement.
Tehran seeks to justify “its bloody repression” against the prisoners, blaming them for starting the riots, although the testimonies collected by the NGO reveal that prison officials repressed the crowd with tear gas and metal pellets, subjecting many to “brutal” beatings with batons, particularly to the head and face.
“Amnesty International is also deeply concerned by eyewitness testimonies emerging from inside the prison indicating that security forces pointed guns at the heads of several female inmates and may also have fired live ammunition at some male prisoners,” it said. pointed.
Regarding the deaths, the NGO has assured that the official balance of the authorities, which puts the victims at eight, could be higher, since “they quickly issued statements that attributed the deaths to suffocation due to smoke inhalation or riots.”
“The arbitrary and abusive force used by Iran’s security forces and prison officials against prisoners confined within the walls of a fire-stricken prison with no possibility of escape provides further evidence of the extreme brutality that the Iranian authorities routinely used to crush dissent,” the NGO stressed.
One of the prisoners explained to Amnesty International that “they do not allow the injured to receive medical treatment”. “They say: ‘The worst thing that can happen is that you die and pay nothing’. We have no security here. If people forget us, the authorities will massacre us all,” he has sentenced.
THE EVIN PRISON FIRE
Amnesty International has reconstructed the events of last Saturday, October 15, when around 8:00 p.m. (local time) shots and people began to be heard screaming from inside the adjacent building 7, where prisoners convicted of robbery and financial crimes are being held.
Many of the prisoners from the adjoining block, 8, where there are political prisoners, dissidents and human rights defenders, tried to gain access through the main entrance of the building in an attempt to check the security of the prisoners in number 7.
“In response, guards and riot police fired tear gas and metal pellets at the prisoners. According to an eyewitness, armed security forces stationed outside building 8 also fired ammunition at prisoners inside the building through of the windows”, the NGO has described.
In this way, prison guards handcuffed inmates in Building 8 and beat them repeatedly with batons, while also beating inmates who had been injured by metal pellets, hitting them directly on the injuries.
A testimony from a prisoner, obtained by Amnesty International from a source on condition of anonymity, went so far as to state that the attacks were led by an officer, identified as a colonel, who participated in the beatings while shouting death threats at the prisoners. “I will make your mothers mourn your deaths,” he shouted.
According to this inmate’s account, Iranian security forces later moved hundreds of prisoners to the prison gymnasium, a large hall that serves as an exercise room, where they were severely beaten.
In addition, inmates detained in building 5, which contains the women’s ward, and building 4, which houses, among others, arbitrarily detained men with dual nationality and political dissidents, also tried to go outside.
Prisoner testimonies reveal, according to AI, that security forces fired tear gas. In addition, the prison officers also entered the women’s wing and pointed their weapons at the heads of several inmates while making threats and insults.
According to information obtained by Amnesty International, more than a dozen prisoners in building 8 suffered injuries caused by metal pellets, which have been left untreated or inadequately treated, while several prisoners in the women’s ward and building 4 fell ill. due to exposure to tear gas.
Following the attack, the authorities transferred dozens of prisoners from Building 8, including those who had been injured, to an unknown location and refused to inform their families of their fate and whereabouts. It emerged a day later, as some prisoners were allowed to make short phone calls, that they had been transferred to Shahr prison in Karaj, Alborz province.
